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Ronn Motor Company reveals 40mpg hydrogen hybrid supercar plans

In an announcement that's left us scratching our heads, newly-formed Ronn Motor Company has revealed a car, uniquely named "Scorpion" which they claim will get they 40 mpg, have a 3.5 second 0 to 60 time and have an over 200 mph top end. Furthermore, they state in a press release, it will be available to consumers this fall. Not impressed yet? It will be a hydrogen burning hybrid.

Hydrogen "burning"? Yes, burning. Let us explain. Employing "dual computer processor controls," the hydrogen, produced by "fracturing water molecules drawn from a small on board water tank," will be fed in through the air intake manifold and blended with gasoline in a 30 to 40 per cent ratio. Since one of the partners listed on their website is Hydrorunner, we believe theirs is the system being employed here. The engine said to be doing this gasoline mixed with hydrogen burning is an Acura dual overhead cam, aluminum/magnesium block, 3.5 liter, V-tech, V-6, Type S. All that equipment will be lovingly wrapped in a carbon fiber body produced by Metal Crafters and there will be all kinds of other cool, shinybits. No price was mentioned.

The company, which has just recently begun offering public shares of stock, says it is in the process of designing a state-of-the-art, 40,000-square-foot plant near Marble Falls, Texas. There will be space for fabrication, mechanical assembly, body assembly, parts, testing, receiving etc. There are also plans for a 10,000-square-foot showroom. Of the car, vice president Adrian Pylypec, says, "The Scorpion is a proof of concept vehicle that helps solve consumer energy problems today and we expect will serve as a platform for our second generation vehicles." Seriously though: nice picture, but the website could use some work. Read the release after the jump.

Press Release:

Central Texas Innovators Ronn Motor Company Building New Generation of Hydrogen Cars

Company Taking Orders for One of America's First Premium Eco-Exotic Vehicles

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ronn Motor Company (Pink Sheets:RNNM) ("Company") is well on its way to proving that efficiency can be delivered to the automobile consumer without giving up performance or styling. The Company today unveiled the key to a new generation of "green cars" by revealing the nuts and bolts of what it expects will help drive down consumers' cost to travel the highways with on demand hydrogen production.

"What we are revealing today is an innovation in the automotive industry and demonstrates American ingenuity at a time of real need," says Ronn Motor Company's Chief Executive Officer Ronn Maxwell. "We're designing and building cars with performance components and unique styling with the objective of making the new environmentally friendly vehicle stand out with never before seen style and approximately 40 mpg plus efficiency," he adds.

The new car, now in pre-production, is called the "Scorpion," and the Company plans for it to be available to consumers this fall. The hydrogen delivery system with dual computer processor controls produces hydrogen on demand, and in real time, which will be inducted through the air intake manifold and blended with gasoline at a ratio of 30-40 percent hydrogen, according to Maxwell. The fuel for this system is derived from fracturing water molecules drawn from a small on board water tank, and will not require a high pressure, on board hydrogen storage tank or hydrogen fueling station.

Ronn Motor Company, located in the Texas Hill Country west of Austin, was founded by Maxwell and former Dell, Inc. Executive Adrian Pylypec of Austin, who is Vice President for the Company.

"We have partnered with automotive industry elite like Hydrorunner to design and produce eco-exotic cars with exclusive styling and uncompromised performance," says Pylypec. He adds, "The Scorpion is a proof of concept vehicle that helps solve consumer energy problems today and we expect will serve as a platform for our second generation vehicles."

About Ronn Motor Company: It is located in Horseshoe Bay, Texas and is a design and manufacturing company focused on leading edge design, finely built premium automobiles, and balancing stunning looks and performance with eco responsible alternative power systems. These systems include Hydrogen Fuel, Hydrogen Fuel on Demand, Fuel Cells, and Plug in Electrics. www.ronnmotors.com

* This release contains forward-looking statements that reflect Ronn Motor Company's (the "Company") plans and expectations. In this press release and related comments by Company management, words like "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "forecast," "objective," "plan," "goal" and similar expressions are used to identify forward-looking statements, representing management's current judgment and expectations about possible future events. Management believes these forward-looking statements and the judgments upon which they are based to be reasonable, but they involve numerous known and unknown risks are not guarantees of actual future performance or financial position, which may be materially different from what is expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.

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Anonymous

6 Years Ago

Earlier today, I spoke with Jack Eversull, Ronn's investor-relations firm. Eversull seemed genuine and, although he characterized the company as a "start up," he was encouraged by Ron Maxwell's innovations, drive and personal integrity. Eversull said that they've been in meetings with Frigette Energy Systems all week about manufacture of the H2GO system. Eversull says a contract is already in place and that there are no condition precedents thereto and that Frigette is tooling up to manufacture it for a cost of $999.00 per unit to consumers. I've placed a call to Frigette and am awaiting a call back. Although the consensus is that HHO products don't work (see, e.g.,
http://www.origin.popularmechanics.com/automotive/how_to/4310717.html) it seems unlikely that Frigette would tool up to manufacture a $1,000 computerized gadget that has no demonstrable, palpable benefit.

Eversull said he believes that "several people" are trying out the H2GO system in their vehicles and have reported positive results. I didn't press him for names, because I got the impression he probably didn't have that granular of information. He also believes that they
have received deposits for a total of fifteen (15) Scorpions (at last count (according to the company's December, 2008 financial statement,* it appears they've received only three (3) orders).

I found Watkins to be sincere and approachable. He said that AAMCO corporate rebuffed Ronn Motors' overture, ostensibly leaving Watkins with the option to distribute the product through one or more of his privately owned AAMCO franchise locations. Ronn Motors has promised Watkins to have a system for him to try by the end of May on one of his pick-up trucks (an '06 Dodge Cummins turbo-diesel), but he doesn't realistically expect it to be available until mid to late June. He indicated that they've recently come to the conclusion that the system doesn't produce substantive benefits in small-engine cars (which seems to jive with a previous comment, above, about claimed efficiencies in larger diesel motors) and that they've also learned that a one-product-fits-all solution is not feasible, because of issues with the O2 sensor calibration (which also is consonant with that same commenter, above).

However, Watkins confirmed that the system does not involve any kind of ECU modification or fuel mapping changes (to fool the engine into running leaner), but noted that it has its own self-
contained computer for monitoring the injection mixture. Watkins says he's been informed that the product has produced positive results in large-engine vehicles, which may explain why the current fleet tests are targeted at trucks. Moreover, Watkins says that, to his knowledge, only one individual --the President of Frigette Energy-- is actually running the H2GO system. He quoted the President as noticing a 6 mpg improvement in mileage and saying, "my truck seems to run a lot better."

Watkins also characterized Maxwell as a dynamic inventor (of many various gadgets), who obviously believes in his own company, as evidenced by his purchase of a development facility, an in-shop dyno and that he retained "Lockheed to design their computers." This observation is consistent with one of the comments (above) about personal pride and investment in this venture.

My feeling is that, if there is any demonstrable efficiencies (defined as reducing emissions, improving economy, or both) in diesel motors but not in gas, the Ronn Motors supercar concept still has a future, if they look to running diesel in this car. As far as I know of Gale Banks (Gale Banks Engineering) has conclusively established that diesels have much greater potential for turbo-charging and supercharging racing applications without the octane/knocking issues inherent in gasoline engines.

Anonymous

Anonymous

7 Years Ago

@Mark
I'm not referring to this specific car so I'm definitely not talking about buying stocks for it. I'm talking about the "HHO" kits that are being sold in these last couple of months. I know the laws of thermodynamics, but this is about making the engine run more efficiently, not about making energy out of nothing (unlike cars that run on water, or free energy machines). It's actually very similar to the hydrogen injection system for diesels which also uses electrolysis onboard to introduce a mixture of hydrogen & oxygen to improve fuel economy:
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/11/supplemental_hy.htmlI'm not sure, but I think these have worked to improve effiency in trucks though not as significantly as these "HHO" kits claim and it's on diesel instead of gasoline.
So I'm just asking if anyone has tried one. Of course if you haven't then I don't suggest you do.

Anonymous

6 Years Ago

We have used both H2O2 and seen some efficiency and a cleaner burn, cleaner spark plugs, etc. Recently we have build some HHO generators and we did see a much cleaner burn, did obtain greater efficiency, just as promised. However the problem is that the OBC fights the modifications and it results in a full rich run for an overall loss of efficiency. Once we overcome the OBC restrictions I have no doubt that the system will produce the efficiency which has been projected, i.e. from 10%-40% and perhaps even more. This is a system that uses gasoline with hydrogen being added by the use of a simple T line into the fuel intake manifold. We were able to increase mileage on an '02 Corvette from 18 mpg to 33 mpg per the on board computer until the OBC got caught up to what was going on and defaulted to the full rich position. I am convinced that we can cut emissions and increase efficiency using HHO once we are able to obtain OBC program to comply with the new air/fuel ration which is presently pre-set to a static level in your standard OBC. Try it on a pre '91 vehicle and you will definately be surprised at your fuel economy as well as the lack of any need for emission control devices.

Anonymous

Anonymous

7 Years Ago

For those curious about HHO, commonly refered to as Brown's gas, here is the Wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown's_gas#Brown.27s_gasThe key sentence is the very last. "The HHO trademark is associated with an unproven state of matter called magnegases, and a discredited theory about magnecules, which is the basis for a number of fraudulent claims, and third party water-fuelled car scam attempts."

Anonymous

Anonymous

Anonymous

7 Years Ago

Yeah, the story is that adding HHO to the fuel line greatly improves combustion, and therefore efficiency... it's not like you're running on the HHO, just adding it to the fuel mix so it burns cleaner.

It's pretty complex - it involves a glass jam jar, a $2 element from an electric kettle, water, and some plastic tube.

There was a big beat up on the news here a couple of nights ago poo-pooing the whole thing and bullying some scruffy guy who was swearing by it,,, which actually makes me suspect that it probably does work.

Anonymous

I believe in the first law of thermodynamics: Energy can be converted but not created or destroyed

I believe in the second law of thermodynamics: Entropy always increases in closed systems

I believe in Barnums' Law: There's a sucker born every minute.

Conclusions: Using electricity from the alternator to make hydrogen onboard the car just increases gas consumption. Burning that hydrogen in a futile attempt to reclaim that energy is fruitless because the closed system will not be efficient enough to even break even. But it doesn't matter because foolish people with money will "keep an open mind" and buy the stock. This isn't about making green cars, its about defrauding investsors. I would like this blog better if it didn't play into these repetitive ridiculous schemes.